I
have been to Thailand as a stopover on my first two trips to Nepal, first in
1997 and again in 1999. Both times I stopped on my way there and on my way back.
On one of my trips over the Pacific, there were 100 members of the Boston
Philharmonic on board. They were doing a tour of China. Some of the members were
especially interested in the string things and we spent the entire trip with a
small enclave working on string. They laughed and said that I was now a part of
the “String” Section of the Philharmonic. We even had a String Quartet.

Each time I stayed at the
Christian Guest House. Missionaries such as people in India who need to leave
the country to apply for their yearly renewal for their visas stay there or
those traveling through the country such as I. Young couples, especially from
Canada, who are adopting children, also stay there. It is really a joy to be at
the guest house when they first get to bring their child out of the orphanage.

In Thailand I worked at the
Bangkok International Community School for a couple of days. I also traveled by
rail to Chang Mai to work at the International School there. They were two very
different experiences for being in the same country.

I also gave a string program
for the International Church in Bangkok and at one of the private schools
there.

A couple of evenings at the
guest house, I taught the children of missionaries so they would have something
to take back to their friends in the country where their parents are working. I
also taught some of the missionaries so they could use the string in their
ministry.